Russia: Other Points of View

CCI 25th Anniversary Video Series 2

Abkhazia and the North Caucasus from Brandon Jones on Vimeo.

Dr Gordon Hahn discusses regional ethnic and political diversity in Abkhazia and the Caucasus then discusses its relevance to US and Russian foreign policies.

Testimony of Ambassador William J. Burns, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

September 17, 2008

RMW Analysis by Russia: Other Points of View

The following is a content analysis of the testimony of U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affair, William J. Burns on the August 7-12, 2008 Georgian-Russian five-day war given before the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on September 17, 2008. The testimony provides a glimpse into U.S. policy toward Russia and Georgia and the U.S. position on the causes of the war. The testimony is a one-sided review of Russia’s responsibility for the war’s outbreak by presenting facts in such a way to alleviate Georgia and the U.S. of any role in the conflict’s escalation.

CCI 25th Anniversary Video Series 1

Russo-Georgian War from Brandon Jones on Vimeo.

Dr. Gordon Hahn of the Monterey Institute of International Studies speaks at the 25th anniversary of the Center for Citizen Initiatives at Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove, CA. In this first video of several to be released, Gordon discusses the Russo-Georgian War and its implications for US - Russian relations.

Russian Federation Weekly SITREP

by Patrick Armstrong

AFTERMATH

I think the dust is still settling after what has been a power earthquake of some significance and it's still too early to make pronouncements. But one thing that seems to be happening is a rift between Washington and the EU, at least under Paris' presidency. Sarkozy reacted quickly and decisively and negotiated the settlement that is actually being put into effect. But then it started to become rather murky: when, for example, did Saakashvili sign the Medvedev-Sarkozy plan? Was it 12 August http://avciya.az/eng/news/inthecountry/755-mikhail-saakashvili-signs-cease-fire.html as the French reported? Or was it on the 15th http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93620659 when Rice visited? Did Washington try to re-write it? And if so, how would Sarkozy feel about such second-guessing from the sidelines? At any case, while Washington is doubling down on its bet on Saakashvili and talking of excluding Russia, France, apart from pro forma references to territorial integrity, is moving in the opposite direction. The French PM was quoted as saying "Russia should play an important role in the world as well as the EU for the sake of the world's stability, and besides, the more we talk to each other and the more confidence is between us, the closer our economic ties and the more stability and peace on our planet". Meanwhile -- and perhaps this is his answer to Washington -- Sarkozy has suggested a "joint economic community" between Europe and Russia. This is quite different from regarding Russia as a pariah state that must be shunned.

Russia’s Recognition of Georgian Areas Raises Hopes of Its Own Separatists

by Ellen Barry, New York Times, September 10, 2008

RMW Analysis by Russia:Other Points of View

In the following article, there a host of inaccuracies. Apparent bias emerges in the failure to mention the effect of the West’s recognition of Kosovo’s independence on Russian foreign policy and policy toward Georgia’s breakway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and on these and other separatist regions around the world. Only Russia, as the article implies, is engaging in a double standard by violating the principle of states’ territorial integrity. Again a Western mainstream media organ has produced an article that avoids the subject of jihadi separatism in Russia.

To view the full version, please click here Download NYT_Barry_Sept_10_2008.doc

Former Ambassadors Call for Urgent Action to Arrest Downward

Carnegie Russia and Eurasia Program, Sep 23, 2008

Warning that without urgent attention, U.S.-Russia relations could lead to a protracted period of confrontation and counterproductive activity, a group of former Ambassadors urged Washington and Moscow to make every effort to relieve the immediate tensions surrounding the unstable situation in the Caucasus. In a joint statement they also outlined steps to help both governments work together more effectively on key issues of mutual interest, including arms control, Euro-Atlantic regional security, terrorism, and financial issues.

Meeting at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington for a two-day conference on U.S.-Russia relations, Ambassadors Alexander A. Bessmertnykh, James F. Collins, Yuri V. Dubinin, Arthur A. Hartman, Jack F. Matlock Jr., and Thomas R. Pickering called for reflection and restraint on both sides and urged
that Russian-American relations not be left hostage to political
inertia.

For the full statement click http://list.carnegieendowment.org/t/491786/8201987/48974/0/ here.

Russian Federation Weekly SITREP

by Patrick Armstrong

CORRUPTION

A poll http://news.interfax.ru/frame-news-view-content-01.shtml?id=2675767 this week suggests the size of the problem. About three-quarters of the respondents believe the corruption level in Russia to be "high" or "very high" and that there has been no improvement in the last year or only an insignificant amount. The only encouraging thing from Medvedev's perspective is that 15% believe corruption in the federal government is high down from 20% in 2006. (The cynic would suggest that the decrease may be more a result of publicity than reality). The most corrupt elements were named by respondents as: traffic police (33%), local government (28%), police in general (26%), society on the whole (23%), medical sphere (16%), education sector (15%), federal government (15%) and judicial branch (15%), big business (13%), military commandant offices (8%), show business (6%), the armed forces (5%), the trade sector (4%), the media (3%), political parties (3%), and parliament (3%). A comprehensive list indeed.

Breaking News: Congress Attacks Stance on Georgia

by Daniel Dombey, Financial Times

The US administration's stance on the conflict between Russia and Georgia is coming under heavy fire from Congress uneasy about Washington's tense relations with Moscow.

In hearings this week, senior officials from the state and defence departments fought off questions from senators and members of the House of Representatives on issues such as US promises on Georgia's Nato prospects, Tbilisi's failure to heed US warnings and Washington's decision to grant $1bn (£571m) in reconstruction aid to a country that had ignored its advice.

Reckoning with Russia

by Paul Goode

ROPV comment: This article may be a bit controversially presented, but the facts check out.

Russia’s recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia is a watershed for Russia’s foreign policy, but it is also a culmination of the course set by Western diplomacy at the end of the Cold War. The dismantling of the Soviet Union left a great deal of unfinished business, a spate of weak states in Eurasia, and a United States uninterested in any diplomacy that did not confirm its claim to be the victor. As a result, the swirling talk of isolating Russia – whether by excluding it from the WTO, of ending cooperation with NATO, and or expelling it from the G8 – is unlikely to produce the desperately hoped for results. It is a time of grim realization for the West. Russia is no longer “post-“; indeed, it is very much present.

The Heritage Foundation’s Information War Against Russia

by Gordon Hahn

I write this as an American conservative. Scholarship, I was taught, required the careful weighing of the facts and the testing of hypotheses. Unfortunately, our Washington-based think tanks, caught up in the race for the White House and the need to justify their continued existence, have abandoned the scholar’s enterprise and become propaganda organs propagating loose interpretations of the facts on behalf of special interests.